Africa (Roman province)

Provincia Africa Proconsularis
Province of the Roman Empire
←
146 BC–5th century →
The province of Africa within the Roman Empire
Capital Zama Regia, then Carthago
Historical era Antiquity
 • Established after the Third Punic War 146 BC
 • Invasion of the Vandals 5th century
Today part of  Tunisia
 Libya
 Algeria

The Roman province of Africa Proconsularis was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War in 146 BC. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of modern-day Algeria, and the small Mediterranean Sea coast of modern-day western Libya along the Gulf of Sirte.

It was one of the wealthiest provinces in the western part of the empire, second only to Italia. The Arabs later named roughly the same region as the original province Ifriqiya, a rendering of Africa, from the Latin language.

The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117–138 AD), showing, in northern Africa, the senatorial province of Africa Proconsularis (E. Algeria/Tunisia/Tripolitania). 1 legion deployed in 125.

History

The land acquired for the province of Africa was the site of the ancient city of Carthage. Other large cities in the region included Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia), capital of Byzacena, Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Algeria). The province was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BC, following the Third Punic War.

Rome established its first African colony, Africa Proconsularis or Africa Vetus (Old Africa), governed by a proconsul, in the most fertile part of what was formerly Carthaginian territory. Utica was formed as the administrative capital. The remaining territory was left in the domain of the Numidian client king Massinissa. At this time, the Roman policy in Africa was simply to prevent another great power from rising on the far side of Sicily.

In 118 BC, the Numidian prince Jugurtha attempted to reunify the smaller kingdoms. However, upon his death, much of Jugurtha's territory was placed in the control of the Mauretanian client king Bocchus; and, by that time, the romanization of Africa was firmly rooted. In 27 BC, when the Republic had transformed into an Empire, the province of Africa began its Imperial occupation under Roman rule.

Several political and provincial reforms were implemented by Augustus and later by Caligula, but Claudius finalized the territorial divisions into official Roman provinces. Africa was a senatorial province. After Diocletian's administrative reforms, it was split into Africa Zeugitana (which retained the name Africa Proconsularis, as it was governed by a proconsul) in the north and Africa Byzacena in the south, both of which were part of the Dioecesis Africae.

The region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the Germanic migrations of the 5th century. The Vandals crossed into North Africa from Spain in 429 and overran the area by 439 and founded their own kingdom, including Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics. The Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite. They also persecuted Catholicism, as the Vandals were adherents of Arianism (the semi-trinitarian doctrines of Arius, a priest of Egypt). Towards the end of the 5th century, the Vandal state fell into decline, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other Berber tribes of the desert.

In AD 533, Emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, sent an army under the general Belisarius to recover Africa. In a short campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and re-established Roman rule over the province. The restored Roman administration was successful in fending off the attacks of the Amazigh desert tribes, and by means of an extensive fortification network managed to extend its rule once again to the interior.

The North African provinces, together with the Roman possessions in Spain, were grouped into the Exarchate of Africa by Emperor Maurice. The exarchate prospered, and from it resulted the overthrow of the emperor Phocas by Heraclius in 610. Heraclius briefly considered moving the imperial capital from Constantinople to Carthage.

After 640, the exarchate managed to stave off the Muslim Conquest, but in 698, a Muslim army from Egypt sacked Carthage and conquered the exarchate, ending Roman and Christian rule in North Africa.

Timetable

EVOLUTION OF THE PROVINCE OF AFRICA
Pre-Roman Conquest Carthage Eastern Numidia (Massylii) Western Numidia (Masaesyli) Mauretania
by 146 BC Africa Numidia Mauretania
by 105 BC Africa Eastern Numidia Western Numidia Mauretania
by 45 BC Africa Vetus Africa Nova Western Numidia Eastern Mauretania Western Mauretania
by 27 BC Africa Proconsularis Mauretania
by 41 AD Africa Proconsularis Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana
by 193 AD Africa Proconsularis Numidia Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana
by 314 AD Tripolitania Africa Byzacena Africa Zeugitana Numidia Mauretania Sitifensis Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana
Legend
  Roman control

Roman Africans

The amphitheatre of Thysdrus (modern El Djem)

The African province was amongst the wealthiest regions in the Empire (rivaled only by Egypt, Syria and Italy itself) and as a consequence people from all over the Empire migrated into the Roman Africa Province, most importantly veterans in early retirement who settled in Africa on farming plots promised for their military service. Historian Theodore Mommsen estimated that under Hadrian nearly 1/3 of the eastern Numidia population (roughly modern Tunisia) was descended from Roman veterans.[1]

Even so, the Roman military presence of North Africa was relatively small, consisting of about 28,000 troops and auxiliaries in Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces. Starting in the 2nd century AD, these garrisons were manned mostly by local inhabitants. A sizable Latin speaking population developed that was multinational in background, sharing the north African region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages.[1][2] Imperial security forces began to be drawn from the local population, including the Berbers.

Abun-Nasr, in his A History of the Maghrib, said that "What made the Berbers accept the Roman way of life all the more readily was that the Romans, though a colonizing people who captured their lands by the might of their arms, did not display any racial exclusiveness and were remarkably tolerant of Berber religious cults, be they indigenous or borrowed from the Carthaginians. However, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture. Pockets of non-Romanized Berbers continued to exist throughout the Roman period, even in such areas as eastern Tunisia and Numidia."

By the end of the Western Roman Empire nearly all of the Maghreb was fully romanized, according to Mommsen in his The Provinces of the Roman Empire and the Roman Africans enjoyed a high level of prosperity. This prosperity (and romanization) touched partially even the populations living outside the Roman limes (mainly the Garamantes and the Getuli), who were reached with Roman expeditions to Sub-Saharan Africa.

The willing acceptance of Roman citizenship by members of the ruling class in African cities produced such Roman Africans as the comic poet Terence, the rhetorician Fronto of Cirta, the jurist Salvius Julianus of Hadrumetum, the novelis Apuleius of Madauros, the emperor Septimius Severus of Lepcis Magna, the Christians Tertullian and Cyprian of Carthage, and Arnobius of Sicca and his pupil Lactantius; the angelic doctor Augustine of Thagaste, the epigrammatist Luxorius of Vandal Carthage, and perhaps the biographer Suetonius, and the poet Dracontius.
— Paul MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak (1969), UNC Press, 2000, p.326

Economy

Electrum tridrachme struck at Zeugitane in Carthage
A Roman coin celebrating the province of Africa, struck in AD 136 under the Emperor Hadrian. The personification of Africa is shown wearing an elephant headdress.
Triumph of Poseidon and Amphitrite showing the couple in procession, detail of a vast mosaic from Cirta, Roman Africa (c. 315–325 AD, now at the Louvre)

The prosperity of most towns depended on agriculture. Called the "granary of the empire", North Africa, according to one estimate, produced one million tons of cereals each year, one-quarter of which was exported. Additional crops included beans, figs, grapes, and other fruits. By the 2nd century, olive oil rivaled cereals as an export item. In addition to the cultivation of slaves, and the capture and transporting of exotic wild animals, the principal production and exports included the textiles, marble, wine, timber, livestock, pottery such as African Red Slip, and wool.

The incorporation of colonial cities into the Roman Empire brought an unparalleled degree of urbanization to vast areas of territory, particularly in North Africa. This level of rapid urbanization had a structural impact on the town economy, and artisan production in Roman cities became closely tied to the agrarian spheres of production. As Rome's population grew, so did her demand for North African produce. This flourishing trade allowed the North African provinces to increase artisan production in rapidly developing cities, making them highly organized urban centers. Many Roman cities shared both consumer and producer model city aspects, as artisanal activity was directly related to the economic role cities played in long-distance trade networks.[3]

The urban population became increasingly engaged in the craft and service sectors and less in agrarian employment, until a significant portion of the town's vitality came from the sale or trade of products through middlemen to markets in areas both rural and abroad. The changes that occurred in the infrastructure for agricultural processing, like olive oil and wine production, as trade continued to develop both cities and commerce directly influenced the volume of artisan production. The scale, quality, and demand for these products reached its acme in Roman North Africa.[3]

Pottery production

Berber Red Slip flagons and vases, 2nd-4th centuries
A typical plain berber Red Slip dish with simple rouletted decoration, 4th century

The North African provinces spanned across regions rich with olive plantations and potters' clay sources, which led to the early development of fine Ancient Roman pottery, especially African Red Slip terra sigillata tableware and clay oil lamp manufacture, as a crucial industry. Lamps provided the most common form of illumination in Rome. They were used for public and private lighting, as votive offerings in temples, lighting at festivals, and as grave goods. As the craft developed and increased in quality and craftsmanship, the North African creations began to rival their Italian and Grecian models and eventually surpassed them in merit and in demand.[4]

The innovative use of molds around the 1st century BC allowed for a much greater variety of shapes and decorative style, and the skill of the lamp maker was demonstrated by the quality of the decoration found typically on the flat top of the lamp, or discus, and the outer rim, or shoulder. The production process took several stages. The decorative motifs were created using small individual molds, and were then added as appliqué to a plain archetype of the lamp. The embellished lamp was then used to make two plaster half molds, one lower half and one upper half mold, and multiple copies were then able to be mass-produced. Decorative motifs ranged according to the lamp's function and to popular taste.[4]

Ornate patterning of squares and circles were later added to the shoulder with a stylus, as well as palm trees, small fish, animals, and flower patterns. The discus was reserved for conventional scenes of gods, goddesses, mythological subjects, scenes from daily life, erotic scenes, and natural images. The strongly Christian identity of post-Roman society in North Africa is exemplified in the later instances of North African lamps, on which scenes of Christian images like saints, crosses, and biblical figures became commonly articulated topics. Traditional mythological symbols had enduring popularity as well, which can be traced back to North Africa's Punic heritage. Many of the early North African lamps that have been excavated, especially those of high quality, have the name of the manufacturer inscribed on the base, which gives evidence of a highly competitive and thriving local market that developed early and continued to influence and bolster the colonial economy.[4]

African Terra Sigillata

After a period of artisanal, political, and social decline in the 3rd century AD, lamp-making revived and accelerated artistry in the early Christian age to new heights. The introduction of fine local red-fired clays in the late 4th century triggered this revival. African Red Slip ware (ARS), or African Terra Sigillata, revolutionized the pottery and lamp-making industry.[5]

ARS ware was produced from the last third of the 1st century AD onwards, and was of major importance in the mid-to-late Roman periods. Famous in antiquity as "fine" or high-quality tableware, it was distributed both regionally and throughout the Mediterranean basin along well-established and heavily trafficked trade routes. North Africa's economy flourished as its products were dispersed and demand for its products dramatically increased.[6]

Initially, the ARS lamp designs imitated the simple design of 3rd- to 4th-century courseware lamps, often with globules on the shoulder or with fluted walls. But new, more ornate designs appeared before the early 5th century as demand spurred on the creative process. The development and widespread distribution of ARS finewares marks the most distinctive phase of North African pottery-making.[7]

These characteristic pottery lamps were produced in large quantities by efficiently organized production centers with large-scale manufacturing abilities, and can be attributed to specific pottery-making centers in northern and central Tunisia by way of modern chemical analysis, which allows modern archeologists to trace distribution patterns among trade routes both regional and across the Mediterranean.[6] Some major ARS centers in central Tunisia are Sidi Marzouk Tounsi, Henchir el-Guellal (Djilma), and Henchir es-Srira, all of which have ARS lamp artifacts attributed to them by the microscopic chemical makeup of the clay fabric as well as macroscopic style prevalent in that region.

This underscores the idea that these local markets fueled the economy of not only the town itself, but the entire region and supported markets abroad. Certain vessel forms, fabrics, and decorative techniques like rouletting, appliqué, and stamped décor, are specific for a certain region and even for a certain pottery center. If neither form nor decoration of the material to be classified is identifiable, it is possible to trace its origins, not just to a certain region but even to its place of production by comparing its chemical analysis to important northeastern and central Tunisian potteries with good representatives.

Governors

Juba II, king of Mauretania.

Republican era

Unless otherwise noted, names of governors in Africa and their dates are taken from T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, (New York: American Philological Association, 1951, 1986), vol. 1, and vol. 2 (1952).

146–100 BC

Inscriptional evidence is less common for this period than for the Imperial era, and names of those who held a provincia are usually recorded by historians only during wartime or by the triumphal fasti. After the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC, no further assignments to Africa among the senior magistrates or promagistrates are recorded until the Jugurthine War (112–105 BC), when the command against Jugurtha in Numidia became a consular province.

90s–31 BC

During the civil wars of the 80s and 40s BC, legitimate governors are difficult to distinguish from purely military commands, as rival factions were vying for control of the province by means of force.

Imperial era

Principate

Reign of Augustus
Reign of Tiberius
Reign of Gaius Caligula
Reign of Claudius
Reign of Nero
Reign of Vespasian
Reign of Domitian
Reign of Nerva
Reign of Trajan
Reign of Hadrian
Reign of Antoninus Pius
Reign of Marcus Aurelius
Reign of Commodus
Reign of Septimius Severus
Reign of Caracalla
Reign of Elagabalus
Reign of Alexander Severus
Reign of Maximinus Thrax
Reign of Gordian III
Reigns of Valerian and Gallienus
Reign of Aurelian
Reign of Carinus

Later Empire (Dominate)

Governors are directly chosen by the Emperors, without Roman Senate approval.

Northern Africa under Roman rule

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Proconsular Africa listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees:[29]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 35-37.
  2. ↑ Laroui challenges the accepted view of the prevalence of the Latin language, in his The History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 45-46.
  3. 1 2 Wilson, A. I., 2002. Papers of the British School at Rome. Vol 70, Urban Production in the Roman World: The View from North Africa. London: British School at Rome. 231-73.
  4. 1 2 3 Brouillet, Monique Seefried., ed. 1994. From Hannibal to Saint Augustine: Ancient Art of North Africa from the Musee Du Louvre, 82-83, 129-130. Atlanta: Emory University.
  5. ↑ Brouillet, Monique Seefried., ed. 1994. From Hannibal to Saint Augustine: Ancient Art of North Africa from the Musee Du Louvre, 129-130. Atlanta: Emory University.
  6. 1 2 Mackensen, Michael and Gerwulf Schneider. 2006. "Production centres of African Red Slip Ware (2nd-3rd c.) in northern and central Tunisia: Archaeological provenance and reference groups based on chemical analysis." Journal of Roman Archaeology 19: 163-188.
  7. ↑ Brouillet, Monique Seefried., ed. 1994. From Hannibal to Saint Augustine: Ancient Art of North Africa from the Musee Du Louvre, 129. Atlanta: Emory University.
  8. ↑ Continued as proconsul until the arrival of Metellus in 109 BC.
  9. ↑ Continued as proconsul until the arrival of his successor Marius, whom he declined to meet for the transfer of command. He triumphed over Numidia in 106 and received his cognomen Numidicus at that time.
  10. ↑ Delegated command pro praetore when Marius returned to Rome.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Ronald Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy (Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 45 n 80
  12. ↑ Tacitus, Annals I.53
  13. ↑ Tacitus, Annals II.52
  14. ↑ Tacitus, Annals III.21
  15. ↑ Tacitus, Annals III.35, III.58
  16. ↑ Tacitus, Annals IV.23
  17. ↑ Tacitus, Annals XII.59
  18. ↑ Tacitus, Annals XI.21
  19. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the names of the proconsular governors from 69 to 139 are taken from Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), pp. 281-362; 13 (1983), pp. 147-237
  20. ↑ Identified by Werner Eck, "Ergänzungen zu den Fasti Consulares des 1. und 2. Jh.n.Chr.", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 24 (1975), pp. 324-344, esp. pp. 324-6
  21. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the names of the proconsular governors from 139 to 180 are taken from Géza Alföldy, Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), pp. 207-211
  22. ↑ Alföldy, Konsulat und Senatorenstand, pp. 365-367
  23. ↑ Mennen, Inge, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 (2011), pg. 261
  24. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the names of the proconsular governors from 333 to 392 are taken from the list in T.D. Barnes, "Proconsuls of Africa, 337-392", Phoenix, 39 (1985), pp. 144-153
  25. ↑ Per the list provided in T.D. Barnes, "Proconsuls of Africa: Corrigenda", Phoenix, 39 (1985), pp. 273-274
  26. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the names of the proconsular governors from 392 to 414 are taken from the list T.D. Barnes, "Late Roman Prosopography: Between Theodosius and Justinian", Phoenix, 37 (1983), pp. 248-270
  27. ↑ In 396 Quintus Aurelius Symmachus wrote him a letter (Epistulae, ix); on 17 March 397 he received a law preserved in the Codex Theodosianus (XII.5.3).
  28. ↑ During this office he received the law preserved in Codex Theodosianus, xi.30.65a.
  29. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819-1013

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.